It's often easy to tell when American characters are played by foreign actors. But these stars have accents that are so convincing we just assumed they’re American, even though they're not! Here's a look.
Florence Pugh
Florence Pugh often chooses roles that let her explore accents she hasn't tried before. And having played characters from several different US regions, it's safe to say she's mastered most of them!
The Oxford-born actress is about as British as they come, so much so that she has her own tea preparation method. In an appearance on the Off Menu podcast, Florence revealed, "So many people think I'm American…Then when I do things publicly, they're like, 'That is the fakest English accent I have ever heard.'"
Andrew Garfield
While the British actor was born in LA, we’re still counting him on our list because he has traces of a British accent in casual conversation. Raised in Surrey, Andrew’s most recognizable roles are surprisingly American characters, notably Eduardo Saverin and Spiderman in The Social Network (2010) and The Amazing Spiderman (2012).
While performing alongside Zendaya in Spiderman: No Way Home (2021), his co-star admitted in an interview that she “kept forgetting” Andrew was actually British. His US accent is so excellent that Andrew has already nabbed himself two Oscar noms for two American roles, Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Tick Tick Boom (2021).
Margot Robbie
We have seen Margot Robbie adopt all types of accents over the US, most famously New York, midwestern and southern accents, but the actress is anything but American. The Australian-born star was told she needed a linguistic coach for interviews because she sounded “too Australian.” Crikey!
Margot has even obsessively watched Legally Blonde (2001) to nail a classic US accent. In a comment on a video posted by Margot to promote a film with her natural Aussie cadence, a viewer said she should “drop the accent.” It seems someone was so convinced she was American they figured she was using a fake accent for clout.
Cate Blanchett
Much to any movie lover’s surprise, Cate Blanchett is no American. Trained at the elite acting school NIDA, the Aussie actor can perfect accents by listening to recordings of people speaking similarly and by studying an accent’s phonetics. Cate also has a knack for imitating random sounds that aid her in preparation for filming.
While the Melbourne-born actress has mastered the classic American accent, she is no less skilled at performing more regional US accents from around the country. Cate has donned the Southern Belle, New York City socialite and New Englander in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Blue Jasmine (2013) and The Aviator (2004) respectively.
Christian Bale
Born in Wales but raised all around the UK, Christian Bale can not only nail the US accent, he is no stranger to impersonating real Americans, namely Dicky Eklund in The Fighter (2010) and Dick Cheney in Vice (2018). One Twitter user commented on a video of Christian promoting a film that his “real English accent sounds fake.”
The majority of the British actor’s roles are oddly American characters, and he has undoubtedly kept the charade up when he confessed he used to pretend to be American during press interviews to confuse interviewers. He may not always sound British, but he still has English humor.
Henry Cavill
Weird to think that Superman (AKA Henry Cavill), the symbol of the American dream, doesn't even come from the States. Despite his mastering of the accent, it was sometimes challenging for Henry. Before shooting The Man from UNCLE, Henry revealed he struggled to nail a Trans-Atlantic accent even with a dialect coach.
However, with some finessing, he was able to deliver the US accent with flying colors. The British actor even admitted that he struggles to turn the American accent off at the end of a day's work. We're sure fans can agree, British, American, or from outer space; Henry can speak any way he wants if he keeps looking that handsome.
Antony Starr
If Superman is the American embodiment of perfection, then Antony Starr's Homelander is the personification of evil in The Boys. But Antony is no American. He actually hails from New Zealand. When he began to book LA gigs, Antony would pretend he wasn't from the opposite end of the world to save himself from embarrassment.
Even after 13 years in LA, he still struggles with some words but doesn't let it deter him. The Auckland born-actor has said, "Sometimes there'll be just a phrase or couple words that are really difficult to get your mouth around." There is nothing a bit of post-production sound recording can't fix!
Millie Bobby Brown
Millie Bobby Brown is an LA-based prodigy actor, singer, and businesswoman. But we bet you didn’t know the British actress learned to speak with a convincing American actress by watching Hannah Montana. Millie may have been practicing hoping to become the next pop singer, but she certainly pulled away more skills than singing.
While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Millie shared that she watched Bugsy Malone and The Godfather when she was eight. She has insisted she can pick up any accent just by watching it enough. Her talent may be that of a great British actor, but she has American sensibilities.
Daniel Kaluuya
Fans were shocked that the breakout star of Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out was not actually from the States. Only his real fans know that Daniel Kaluuya is British, and he got his start on the beloved UK TV series Skins. Despite his start on British TV, Daniel’s career in LA has convinced many fans he isn't a Briton.
Daniel has been vocal about working with vocal coaches, particularly in his Oscar-winning role in Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). He also started smoking to achieve the enunciation that his character is known for. Daniel is also no stranger to more obscure accents, having learned an Ohio accent for Queen & Slim (2019).
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman has been hanging around Hollywood for so long that some movie lovers probably don’t even realize she is from Australia. Even though the Sydney-born actress has been parodied on SNL for some slips in recent times, she is undeniably a queen of accents for her thirty-year career in American films.
Nicole works with dialect coaches to prepare for a film and will often stay in character for weeks before shooting. One journalist admitted they “don’t even remember what her voice sounds like.” Perhaps this is attested to her many years of convincing accents, or she is too famous to do press for her films anymore.
Kate Winslet
The self-professed “accent nerd” Kate Winslet is the master of complete character immersion. She has been in American films for so long that most audiences assume she is a native. Hailing from a town outside of London, the actress has never felt she belonged in Hollywood, even after twenty-five-years of silver-screen success.
Not only has Kate mastered GenAm, Southern, and Trans-Atlantic dictions, she even learned how to speak with a Philadelphia Delco accent for her role in Mare of Easttown. In an interview with People, even the actress admitted mastering the peculiar US accent was “one of only two dialects in my life that made [her] throw things."
Tom Holland
It could be due to his use of Gen Z vernaculars, but Tom Holland is entirely persuasive as a Queens teen with his ace accent. The British actor is particularly well-known for his ability to smoothly slip in and out of accents. Tom would have had us all fooled if it weren’t for his posh jargon and British slang.
Robert Downey Jr has even commented on Tom’s expertise at nailing a Queens accent. Tom told E! News why his American accent is so convincing; “I always have to practice my American accent. I do it every day in the shower,” he said. “I shower in American, just so I’m ready.”
Anya Taylor-Joy
Our next entry on the list may be tricky, but Anya Taylor-Joy knows no bounds when adopting accents. Her natural accent is a blend of British, Spanish-Argentine, and a twang of American. With such a blend of sounds, it is even more impressive that Anya can easily confuse audiences with her American accent.
Anya has said that while her blend of accents is great for acting, particularly in The Queen's Gambit, it can be a bit of a nightmare for her personal life as she doesn't really know where she belongs. She told Live, "I tend to mimic the people I am around. I'll go to Ireland, and all of a sudden, I start sounding Irish."
Toni Collette
Toni Collette is a dialect chameleon. She can do any accent, no matter how challenging. More specifically, she is a master of the American accent. Toni has used accents from Philadelphia to Albuquerque and always nails them. The Aussie actor uses her natural accent so rarely that most fans don’t even realize she isn’t American.
Anna Kendrick, Toni's co-star in Stowaway, which required her to speak with an Australian accent, said, "She kept speaking in an American accent. We would start rolling, and she would start speaking in an American accent and be like, 'Sorry, sorry.'" If we were as good at accents as Toni, we would also never stop using them.
Robert Pattinson
He may be committed to working on the most bizarre accents, but Robert Pattinson is a posh Brit through and through. Rob has revealed that he learned to do a general American accent by listening to US rappers. The actor has refused to work with dialect coaches, choosing instead to craft the sound on his own.
Rob is famous for doing different American accents in almost all his films. He performed in The Batman using a General American accent, and Good Time had him speaking like a Queens boy. In The Lighthouse, on the other hand, he spoke in an old school New England accent, and Devil All The Time had him speaking in a Southern drawl.
Hugh Jackman
When you watch Hugh Jackman's movies, you might forget he's not American. The Aussie actor is so good at bringing out the originality of his roles that it's easy to get lost in the performance. Whenever Hugh dons the Wolverine claws, his American accent is so convincing that some people forget he's actually from Australia.
The trick behind Hugh's flawless accent? Besides natural talent, he learned one convenient trick from fellow actor Johnny Depp. Johnny's advice, as told by the Aussie actor, "He will start a sentence that contains every vowel or consonant change for the new accent." Classic Hugh, making seamless accent learning sound easy.
Idris Elba
Almost all of Idris Elba's roles have been with an American accent, so viewers are usually surprised to learn the actor originates from London. The British actor moved to New York City to improve his American accent, spent time in a barbershop, and talked about basketball with his new neighbors.
Idris told Live, "Mastering an American accent was my most difficult challenge. It took me three years to get it right. It seemed to me the ultimate test was to convince real Americans I was one of them – so I'd climb into a cab and try to pass myself off as an American." Safe to say, he more than passes as an American now.
Sarah Snook
When fans of HBO’s hit series Succession discovered an American did not play the ruthless and ambitious Shiv Roy, but rather Australian actress Sarah Snook, they couldn’t believe it. Sarah’s flawless accent in the show exhibited no sign of any Aussie twang, rhoticity, or centralized vowels.
Sarah tried to always stay in her American accent off-screen, but sometimes she would accidentally slip into her on-screen hubby’s natural British accent. The only phrase that gave the actress away in season 4 was having to say ‘Range Rover.’ We figure the writers were testing her accent prowess. Finally, they stumped her.
Diane Kruger
The only German on our list and one of the few non-British Europeans that can get away with convincing audiences, she is from the US. The actress left West Germany at fifteen to start a modeling career in the UK, France, and US. In FX’s The Bridge, Diane had no issues using her American accent to confuse fans and viewers.
Diane’s skill at an American accent is unparalleled for someone that came late to acting. Quentin Tarantino almost didn’t hire the German actress in Inglorious Basterds because he worried she sounded “too American.” Diane often insists that “you can learn any accent you want!” If we were as good as Diane, we all would.
Hugh Laurie
It's not dialect coaches, method acting, or watching movies that help Oxford-born Hugh Laurie master the US accent; it's one simple word. Cricket. The British actor insists if you imagine a cricket insect, as opposed to the old batting game, it is easy to switch in and out of his natural accent.
Hugh graced our screens for years on House with a persuasive accent, and it shocked and impressed us when we discovered our favorite doctor was from across the pond. However, in an interview with Live with Kelly and Ryan, the actor admitted that he can't say 'New York' without giving himself away.
Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Skarsgård may have the unfair advantage of a naturally mild Swedish accent but his skill at performing in different American dialects is no less impressive. Southern drawl, mid-Atlantic, or mid-Western, Alexander has done it all and all the while becoming one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors.
The Stockholm-born actor has said whenever he is in the US, he will naturally use an American accent. Alex, along with his other famous acting brothers, “grew up on film sets” thanks to Papa Stellan. From his many years of living in the States and hanging around real Americans, Alex had no trouble adopting the US intonations.
Alicia Vikander
She is a sneakier entry on our list, but Swedish actress Alicia Vikander deserves some credit for confusing audiences with her accent-adopting skills. In an interview with Indiewire, Alicia said, "Preparation is the most important thing… you try to do so much just to let go." She insists by relaxing; the accent will come.
While the actress sounds more British than American, she is adept at picking up American accents, as evidenced by her roles in Ex Machina (2014) and Jason Bourne (2016). We have yet to see the Oscar-winning Swede perform any specific US dialects, but Alicia is booking and blessing our screens, so it's only a matter of time.
Will Poulter
Formerly dubbed ‘the guy with the eyebrows,’ recently glowed-up heartthrob Will Poulter has proven he is not as straightforward as he seems. While his roles in The Maze Runner, We’re The Millers, and The Revenant led viewers to believe he was an average American Joe, the actor is from across the pond.
A native of London, the towering actor learned how to master his American accent by watching and rewatching the hit TV series Friends. It certainly helps that Will chooses to keep using his fake American accent, even when on a shooting break. He certainly held his own opposite Leo DiCaprio in The Revenant; no easy feat.
Rosamund Pike
‘Cool girl’ can do any regional accent she sets her mind on, and no one knows ‘Cool girl’ is not originally from the States; she is actually Rosamund Pike from London. In her Oscar-nominated Gone Girl (2014) role, Rosamund perfected a slight New York accent while portraying some hidden, psychotic depth below the surface.
While the British actress is known for playing heartless sociopaths, she is also recognized for honing in on her American accents. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, she revealed her secret trick to achieving and maintaining the perfect American accent. Her trick technique was so effective that Stephen wasn’t sure if she was playing him.
Russell Crowe
While some fans have mistaken the New Zealand actor as an Australian, many others assume the actor is American from his convincing appearances in LA Confidential and A Beautiful Mind. The Kiwi actor can capture the nuances of each accent and make it sound natural.
Funnily, Russell hasn’t even returned to the US since 2019. Either way, Crowe is known for his ability to transform himself into the characters he plays completely, and his American accents are no exception. With New York and Southern accents perfected, we eagerly await his return and the next American character he chooses to nail.
Melanie Lynskey
With an accent that is as Kiwi as they come, Melanie Lynskey had to prove she could improvise with an American accent. And prove it she did: the New Zealand actor booked her first US gig at just seventeen years old. A dialect coach said Melanie has mastered an American accent, “No vowels, word stresses, or placement are off.”
Among a cast of Brits, Australians, and Canadians, fans of hit series Yellowjacket count her as the most convincing US accent in the lot. She even received an Emmy nomination for her role as Shauna, cementing her persuasive transformation from soft-spoken Kiwi to traumatized survivor.
Jacob Elordi
With appearances in the most popular shows on the planet as American characters, Jacob Elordi has deceived all of us into believing the actor hailed from the States. In fact, Jacob's American accent is so good that fans are always surprised to find out he's actually Australian.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jacob revealed that he learned to speak with an American accent by obsessively listening to Eminem. He told stand-in host, Julie Bowen, "When I was younger, and I decided to be an actor, and there was no way I was going to come here and not be able to do the accent, and I listened to a lot of Eminem."
Benedict Cumberbatch
Only Sherlock fans know that Doctor Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch is from the UK. The British actor confessed that he often struggles to revert to his natural accent after filming. He said, "It is difficult to speak in an English accent after doing a whole day’s filming."
Benedict believes in staying in character during a film’s shooting. On the Power of the Dog set, if a crew member or actor referred to him as ‘Benedict,’ he would ignore them until they corrected themselves. Pretending to be someone else certainly helped him to perfect his Southern accent.
Daniel Day-Lewis
No one can act like Daniel Day-Lewis can, and the same goes for his skills in accent. The British actor has mastered accents from specific states; Boston, Texan, Kentucky, New York, Oklahoman, and Pennsylvania - the list is endless. Daniel is famous for his heavy research and taking years to prepare for a single role.
The London-born actor has been at the top of his game for so long that people know he isn’t from the US, we can’t help but adore him. Daniel is open about using method acting, so it’s no surprise he seems more American than actual Americans. While the actor has retired, he may soon return to complete a full US accent tour.
Andrew Lincoln
Midwestern, Southern, Brooklyn, or GenAm, British actor Andrew Lincoln has explored almost every region in the States through his expert language skills. From his beginnings in the British romantic film Love Actually (2003), the London-born actor said that donning the Southern accent was the most challenging.
Andrew J West, a fellow Andrew, and co-star in The Walking Dead, revealed, “He is so method…he’d stay in accent. We’d go to lunch hour, and it would occur to me like an hour in, ‘You’re still talking like Rick talks.’” It’s safe to say if any of us want a chance at surviving a zombie apocalypse, stick close to Andrew.